meanwhile ralph nickleby, the money-lender, had given kate and her mother leave to live in a rickety, unoccupied house which he owned. it was a dingy building on an old wharf, but noggs, the clerk, himself cleaned and furnished one of its rooms so that it was fairly comfortable. when they were settled ralph took kate to a dressmaker's, where he got her a situation, hoping thus they would not call on him for any money.
the dressmaker called herself madame mantalini. her real name was muntle, but she thought the other sounded better. her husband was a plump, lazy man with huge side-whiskers, who spent most of the time curling them and betting on horse-races. he gambled away all the money madame mantalini made, but he pretended to be terribly fond of her, and was always calling her his "little fairy" and his "heart's delight," so that the silly woman always forgave him. he tried to kiss kate the first day, which made her detest him.
at madame mantalini's kate had to stand up all day trying on dresses for rich ladies, who were often rude to her. and because they preferred to be waited on by the pretty, rosy-cheeked girl, miss knag, the ugly forewoman, hated the child, and did all she could to make her unhappy.[pg 168]
kate's mother used to wait each evening on the street corner outside, and they would walk home together. they had no idea what trouble nicholas was having all this time, because he had written them such cheerful letters, and whenever they felt sadder than usual they would comfort themselves by thinking how well he was getting along and what a fine position he had.
if they could have seen him when he finally got to london after running away from dotheboys hall, they would hardly have known him. both he and poor smike were hungry and muddy and tired. remembering noggs's kind letter, nicholas went first to the little garret where the clerk lived, and through him he found a cheap room on the roof of the building, which he rented for himself and smike. then he started out to find his mother and kate.
he would have hastened if he had guessed what was happening or how badly kate had been treated by ralph nickleby.
the evening before, as it happened, kate had been invited to dinner at her uncle's fine house, and there she had met two dissipated young men—lord frederick verisopht and sir mulberry hawk, the latter of whom had looked at her and talked to her so rudely that she had indignantly left the table and gone home. she had not slept a wink that night, and the next morning, to make her and her mother more wretched still, ralph nickleby[pg 169] called with a letter he had just received from fanny squeers, declaring that nicholas was a thief and a scoundrel; that he had tried to murder her father and all his family, and had run off with one of the pupils of dotheboys hall.
to be sure, neither of them believed it, but if made them very unhappy. and then, just as ralph was reading them the last line of the letter, in came nicholas! you may be sure he comforted them and told them it was a lie. he told ralph what he thought of him also in stern language, which made his uncle angrier than ever.
then, seeing that his presence was making things worse, and realizing in what poverty his dear ones were, and that they were so wholly dependent on ralph for help, nicholas came to a very brave determination. he told them that, as he could not help them himself, he would go away from them until his fortune bettered. so, bidding them good-by, and telling his uncle he should keep watch over them and that if any harm came to them he would hold him accountable, nicholas went sadly back to his garret room and to smike.
he tried hard for some days to find a situation, but failed, and he would not take money from noggs, who was so poor himself. so at last, with smike, he set out on foot for portsmouth, which was a seaport, thinking there they might find a chance to go as sailors in some ship.
at an inn on the way, however, nicholas met a[pg 170] man who caused him to change all his plans. this man was a mr. vincent crummles. when nicholas first saw him in the inn he was teaching his two sons to make-believe fight with swords. they were practising for a play, for mr. crummles was manager of a theater in portsmouth, and he proposed that nicholas join the company and become an actor.
there seemed nothing else to do, so nicholas agreed, and next day they went to the portsmouth theater, where he was introduced to all the company.
it was a very curious mixture. there was mrs. crummles, who took the tickets, and little miss crummles, whom the bills called "the infant phenomenon," and who was always said to be only ten years old. there was a slim young man with weak eyes who played the lover, and a fat man with a turned-up nose who played the funny countryman, and a shabby old man whose breath smelled of gin, who took the part of the good old banker with the gray side-whiskers. then there was the lady who acted the r?le of the wicked adventuress, and all the others.
nicholas had to begin by writing a play which had parts for all of them, and it proved a great success. smike, whom he drilled himself, took the part of a hungry boy, and he looked so starved, naturally, from his life with squeers, that he was tremendously applauded.
one of the other actors was so jealous at the play's success that he sent nicholas a challenge to a duel, but nicholas walked on to the stage before the whole company and knocked the actor down, and after that he had no trouble and was a great favorite.
he might have stayed a long time at mr. crummles's theater, for he had earned quite a good deal of money, but one day he got a letter from noggs, the clerk, telling him that all was not well with his mother and kate. and without waiting an hour, nicholas resigned from the company and, with smike, set out again for london.
